Newspaper Photographs and the 1996 Presidential Election: The Question of Bias

This article presents results of a content analysis of photographs of Bill Clinton and Bob Dole appearing in five major newspapers during the last two months of the 1996 presidential campaign. Clinton is found to have received slightly better pictorial treatment, with the most substantial difference found in the Chicago Tribune, an editorially conservative paper. In addition, a week-by-week analysis finds that photos of the two candidates rose and fell together in favorability. Placing the current study in the context of previous content analyses, the authors reject the conclusion of “liberal bias” in the press coverage of presidential campaigns, arguing instead for the presence of a strategic bias benefiting the front-runner.